Lara, Joanna2015-03-242015-03-24201420/11/2014http://hdl.handle.net/11274/4881Relatively less research has focused on how immigration status and assimilation influence health service utilization (HSU) among legal Mexican immigrants and how these effects change over time. The purpose of this thesis is to examine the effects of immigration status and assimilation on HSU among Mexican immigrants in the United States. Using a modified health behavioral model as guidance and panel data from the 2003 New Immigrant Survey (NIS), this study tests several hypotheses pertaining to the effects of immigration status and assimilation on HSU among Mexican immigrants. Logistic regression results show that immigration status and assimilation are by and large significant predictors of HSU among Mexican immigrants, but the effects of some predictors vary between the baseline period and the follow-up period. The effect of length of U.S. residence on HSU is moderated by class of admission and is nonlinear. The implications of the findings are discussed.en-USSociologyThesis